


Capability

by orphan_account



Series: powers verse [2]
Category: Hamilton - Miranda
Genre: Aromantic Angelica, Guess Who's Back, I'll add more tags as i go, Magic, Multi, john and alex have already gotten together, mercy's here with the squad, powers, road trip!!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2018-11-29 16:12:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 13,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11444409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: A direct sequel to Powers! (You should read that first)The squad goes on a road trip! In this verse, many people have powers that give them certain abilities.But like always, their plans are derailed.[Updates at least once a week, on Saturdays]





	1. new york city

**Author's Note:**

> !!!!  
>  I said there would be another, and I delivered! I'm planning on maybe updating more than once a week, but we'll see. I'm excited to be back! This isn't going to be as long as Powers, but it will bring more to the plot!
> 
> also, today i was like 'yes i can post now' but realized that i needed a title so i just looked up a synonym for power lol  
> but it'll tie into the plot don't worry
> 
> anyway enjoy!

 

“Road trips- yay or nay?” Alexander put down the tray of his and John’s food (maybe a little too hard, considering how the two bags shook. John put out a hand to steady it. Alexander ignored it) on the hard plastic table, joining their friends in the mall food court. 

 

“Why?” Hercules asked. He was sitting next to Lafayette

 

“Why to road trips or why to the question?”   
  


“To the question.”   
  


“Because John said road trips were stupid!”   
  


John rolled his eyes. “They are though! I mean, why drive when you can just-”   
  


“Teleport? Gee, I have no idea.” Hercules cut him off and the rest of the table laughed, except for Peggy and Mercy, who were hunched over Peggy’s phone. Theo knocked her shoulders against Aaron’s gently, grinning. 

 

Angelica poked John across the table with a fry. “Are you really trash talking road trips? I was  _ born  _ on a road trip!”

 

Eliza snorted. “Yes, yes, we know.”   
  


Maria giggled.

 

“No, we don’t! Is that true?” Lafayette asked.

 

“It is, actually. I wasn’t born in the car, obviously.”   
  
Peggy finally looked up. “What about how Angelica was born in a car?”   
  


“Angelica was born in a car?” Mercy asked, looking up as well.

 

“Honestly, you guys, put away your phone and join the conversation!” Eliza said. Peggy and Mercy shared a guilty look. Peggy locked her phone and pocketed it. 

 

It was summer, meaning that they all had more free time. 

 

(Peggy had graduated high school but was taking a gap year to recover more before going off to college. She already had to retake all of her finals, which meant that though it was summer, it wasn’t  _ really  _ summer until the day before for Peggy.

 

Mercy hadn’t started school yet and was studying both on her own and with multiple tutors. She was expected to get be back in school as a sophomore. She knew that she would feel awkward there, especially being so much older than the other kids, but she would power through it. She, too, was healing.

 

John and Alexander had moved into an apartment together and were going strong. John’s dad didn’t know that he was gay and dating a boy. His siblings did, though, so that was something. He painted more as a way to relax, and ended up getting some of his work into an art gallery. 

 

Alexander and John had moved into an apartment together and were going strong. Alexander got multiple pieces of his published in magazines and was recovering from whatever happened in King’s base. His eyes were  _ still  _ the wrong color, and on some days he felt like he couldn’t get out of bed. But each week was better than the one before, so he was doing good. 

 

Lafayette had reconnected with a friend from France. She was planning on visiting America over the summer, and Lafayette was very excited. Lafayette had known her since he was very young. He had also gotten a job in a bakery, and had decided that being a baker wasn’t the worst thing to be. He had been crushed when he found out that he couldn’t be a diplomat, since his powers were too controlling. 

 

Hercules had gotten some of his work into a high-profile fashion show. He had screamed for three minutes straight when he had found out. That annoyed his housemates at first (Lafayette and Alexander’s old roommate, Nathan) but when they found out what it was, they screamed along with him until someone in another apartment hit the wall so hard that a painting (one of John’s) fell off. 

 

Angelica had dated off and on before realizing that dating really, really,  _ really  _ wasn’t for her. It’s not that she didn’t like people (or sex, for that matter). It’s just that she didn’t like dating, or, when she thought about it more, the concept of romance in relation to her in general. She came out as aromantic to her sisters after she had time to think it over. Eliza made her a cake and frosted it with the aromantic colors. Angelica almost cried from happiness and invited over the rest of the group to come out to them and to share the cake.

 

Eliza started baking more and more. She learned how to make elaborate cakes, and then shared them with her friends and family. John helped her take them to other places, like to her parents, while they were still fresh. And no matter how much she wanted to confess her feelings to Maria, she left the girl alone. Eliza gave Maria her space, friendship, and baked goods at the same time.

 

Maria turned to cooking instead of baking and soon became an expert. Like Eliza, she shared what she made with her friends and with her family. Maria liked that when she was cooking she could focus on just that. She also liked how when you messed up or when you succeeded, it wasn’t because you accidentally seduced it. You can’t seduce a roast chicken. And for Maria, cooking wasn’t just a hobby. She realized that it was what she wanted to do with her life.)

 

“Wait, were we talking about road trips?” Peggy asked, looking at her sisters.

 

Angelica groaned and fell face-first onto the table. Lafayette patted her back twice before turning to Peggy and Mercy.

 

“We were, actually.” Then his eyes lit up. “We should go on a road trip!”

 

“Really?” John asked. Angelica sat up and hit him, grinning.

 

“We totally should!”

 

“All of us?” Aaron asked dubiously.

 

“Why not?” Lafayette responded.

  
Theo grinned at Aaron. “They let us out of work for the summer, we have time! We have  _ got  _ to do this! We haven’t had a real break in a while.”   
  


“Even me?” Mercy asked, hesitant. Peggy put an arm around her shoulder.

 

“Of course. As long as it’s okay with Martha and Mr. Washington, though.”   
  


“You guys are really set on this road trip idea.” Maria commented. Eliza turned to her.

 

“You gotta come with us! It should be all of us, we can do it!”

 

“Yes! Yes, let’s do it!” Alexander grinned. John sighed.

 

“Fine, fine.”   
  


“C’mon, John.” Alex kissed John. “It’ll be fun!”

 

Clearly trying to hide his smile, John sighed again. “Fiiiiine.” He kissed Alexander. “This’ll be fun.”

 

“Where would we even go, though? And how would we get there? Only Angelica has a car, and there are eleven of us!” Aaron said.

 

“It’s a van,” Angelica shrugged. “And I’m sure Martha would let us borrow her car if we asked nicely. Or we could rent one.”   
  


“Yeah!” Eliza agreed. “Hey, we should go to Rochester! We haven’t been in, what, three years?” She turned to her sisters.

 

Peggy nodded excitedly. “Yeah! Something like that, anyway. And we can go to that good BBQ place! And we can visit Susan B. Anthony’s grave and go shopping and stuff!”

 

“You guys get really excited about things in New York, don’t you?” Maria said dryly, shaking her head. She smiled. “Sounds like a fun place to start.”   
  
“Are we just going to find out where we’re going next when we’re in Rochester?” Hercules asked. “Because while I’m pro spur of the moment road trip, I’m also very pro planning.”   
  


“We’ve done things without planning before. Or at least without serious planning.” Theo said, shrugging. 

 

“We’ve done dangerous things without much planning.” Peggy said softly.

 

The table was silent for a moment before there was some commotion at the other end of the food court. The group watched as one woman walked up to another woman and cursed her out while hitting her with a plastic broom that still had it’s price tag. The other woman shouted before taking a small childs Elmo toy, freezing it, and hitting her with the frozen toy. The two were both escorted out by security, and the toy was returned to the crying child. The toy was still frozen, but a man picked it up and both melted it and dried it off. 

 

“That was… interesting.” John commented into the silence. The table burst out laughing, along with some others in the food court. 

 

When they stopped laughing, Maria ran a hand through her hair.

 

“So, are we really doing this? We’re going on a road trip?”   
  


Lafayette looked around the table, all smiling (maybe except for Aaron, but Theo was and that’s what mattered) and nodded.

 

“Yes, we sure as hell are.”


	2. Rochester

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> car talks and Adventures in rochester, new york

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyheyhey! here's an extra chapter (instead of waiting until saturday) because of Hamilton Death Day. gotta celebrate somehow! i really like this chapter, so i hope you guys too :)
> 
> enjoy!

Maria was having a Bad Day. Now, normally she could keep her powers under control. She had even gave Aaron the bracelet back. 

 

She had woken up at five in the morning because while she had packed her bags, she didn’t buy snacks and she had said she was going to. The grocery store she went to was practically empty, except for some tired looking employes.

 

When Maria had tried to pay, the man at the register and gotten a dazed look on his face and started insisting that he would buy it, despite the total bill being around a hundred bucks. She hadn’t been able to snap him out of it, so in desperation, she turned to the cashier in the lane next to her. Turns out that cashier  _ also  _ liked women, and also tried to pay. Maria walked around, carrying her groceries and going from employee to employee until she found one who wasn’t swayed by her.

 

“I am so, so, sorry! Normally I have this under control, but-” She gestured helplessly. The employee she was talking to stared in amazement and the crowd behind her.

 

“Uh, wow. Uh, I’ll ring that up for you, I guess. Wow. That’s- that’s seven people. That’s like half of our early morning staff. Wow.”   
  


“I know, I know, I’m sorry.” Maria put her face in her hands while she waited for her to ring up the groceries. “You can try calling the NYCSMP if it doesn’t wear off quickly.” Maria took her bags.

 

The cashier looked at the group that was still following them. Two had left, but five were still going strong. “I might have to. Uh, have a good day, ma’am.”   
  


“Thank you. Sorry, sorry!” Maria left the store and sighed hard, leaning against the wall behind her. Unfortunately, it hadn’t been the first time she had accidentally swayed people while trying to do normal tasks. It only really happened when she was tired or very emotional. Maria was getting the hang of it, really.

 

“Goddamn it.” She had walked through a puddle without noticing. Her feet were soaked, and she had been planning on wearing those shoes in the car and in Rochester. “Fucking water, fucking heteros and fucking lesbians and fucking bi’s and fucking everyone, why the fuck. Fuck.”    
  
Maria swore the entire walk home. 

  
  


“Let’s go!” Angelica cheered. She sat in the driver’s seat of her van, while Lafayette sat in the driver’s seat of Martha’s. Martha had let them borrow her car, and she let Mercy go on their road trip.

 

Angelica turned around to make sure that everyone was still there. Beside her, in the front passenger’s seat, was Eliza. Aaron and Theo sat in the two middle seats and behind them sat Maria. She was curled around a blue pillow (Eliza’s) and was clearly trying to get some sleep. She leaned out the window to talk to Hercules, who sat in the front passenger of Martha’s van. 

 

“You guys got everyone?” She asked.

 

Hercules looked at Alex and John in the middle row, and then Mercy and Peggy in the very back. He flashed her a thumbs up.

  
“We’re set.”   
  


“Great. Let’s go!” She cheered again, this time everyone joining in. Angelica’s car took the lead, driving in front.

  
  
  


“How far away is Rochester?” John whined. Alex snorted. 

  
“Like six hours, dude. We got a while. Maybe we should..?” He trailed off and leaned as close to John as the seat belt would allow him. Neither had wanted to sit in the middle seat, after all.

 

“If you guys start making out I’m going to sit between you.” Hercules warned. Lafayette laughed.

 

“Yes, yes. There are children in this car, keep it pure.”   
  
“Excuse me? I’ve graduated high school, I’ll be going to college in a year.”   
  
“You’re a child at heart, Peg.” John said, turning around slightly.

  
“Yes, a child at heart that’s got major dirt on you.” Peggy grinned.

  
Hercules and Lafayette laughed.

 

“I don’t think you have more than I do, Peggy.” Lafayette said. “I’ve known him for longer.”   
  


“I’m his boyfriend! I should have the most dirt!”   
  


Peggy laughed. “While I know we all have dirt on John,”   
  


“I don’t.” Mercy said. Peggy bumped her head against the other girls’ playfully. 

 

“I gotchu, don’t worry. But we all know who really has the receipts.” 

 

“Who?” Mercy asked, raising her eyebrows. All of the logical options were sitting in the van with them.

 

“ _ Me, Angelica.”  _ Peggy said with a grin. “ _ John has come to me with alllll the info.” _ __   
  


“Peggy!” John shouted, blushing. “Did Angie tell you?”   
  
“Not yet, but I know that she knows. Besides, when you were seriously crushing hard on Alexan-”   
  


“Shut up!” John shouted. Alex grinned.

 

None of them noticed Mercy receding slightly into her seat. She summoned a ball of sparkling light and passed it between her hands, trying to calm down. The other’s in the car continued to banter and yell. With each shout, she curled up more in her seat.

 

Peggy noticed- finally!- when she dropped the ball with shaking hands. She unbuckled her seat belt so she could leave her seat and hug Mercy. Mercy melted into Peggy’s arms.   
  
“What’s wrong, Mercy?” Peggy asked.

 

“The shouting,” she whispered. “Sorry, normally it’s fine but-”

  
“No, no, it’s okay.”

 

John looked back.

 

“Peg, that’s dangerous.”   
  
“Can you guys stop yelling?” Mercy asked, voice soft.

 

“Oh. Of course, Mercy, of course!” Alex said. He turned around in his seat the best he could (keeping his seat belt buckled) and patted Mercy on the shoulder. It was an awkward angle, but she appreciated the gesture. Peggy sat back in her seat, but held Mercy’s hand in her own. 

 

They resumed talking, the conversation flowing just fine. And none of them shouted.

  
  
  


“I’m sorry, but Phantom is a classic.” Angelica turned the volume up to be even louder.

 

“Just because something is a classic doesn’t mean it’s good,” Theo said, leaning forward between the seats to turn down the volume.

 

“That might be true, but this classic  _ is  _ good.” Eliza turned the volume back up, then twisted in her seat. “Maria? What do you think? Is Phantom of the Opera a good musical or no?”   
  
She shrugged. Her mood had improved, and she had stopped ‘sleeping’. She leaned forward, putting her arms over the back of the middle row.

 

“Never really listened to it, but it seems pretty good so far. I mean, I can’t tell what they’re saying half the time, but it’s still good.”   
  


“Yes!” Angelica laughed. “You’re done, Theo. That’s three to one.”   
  
“Aaron! Babe, what do you think?” She turned to her boyfriend. 

 

He shifted a little in his seat, before shrugging. “It’s alright. I really like the instrumentals. And,” Aaron spoke more, becoming more invested in the conversation. “The overture is awesome, how can you not like it?”

 

“Who doesn’t?” Angelica asked, turning the volume up again.

 

“Me, obviously.”   
  
“Feel the organ in your bones, bitch.” 

 

All five started laughing. 

  
  
  


“Rochester!” Eliza beamed, throwing out her hands and spinning in a circle. They were standing on a bridge looking over a waterfall.

 

“Group picture!” Lafayette said, moving everyone into position. He took a picture of the group without him before turning around and tapping a random jogger on the shoulder. “Excuse me, could you take our picture? Yes, thank you!”    
  
He stood next to Hercules and smiled at the camera with the rest of them. The jogger took multiple pictures before they gave him his phone back and went on their way. 

 

“Where now?” John asked. 

 

“Graveyard!” Eliza said. “We can go see Susan B. Anthony’s grave and walk around a bit, since we’ve been in the car for so long. Then we can go get dinner, and after that we should find a hotel.”

 

They piled back into the cars and drove to the graveyard. They parked, looking around.

  
“It’s really pretty here.” Mercy commented.

 

“Peaceful,” Peggy agreed. “I wouldn’t mind getting burried here, you know?”

 

“Yeah. Hopefully that won’t happen soon, though.” Mercy linked her arm through Peggy’s. “C’mon, they’re leaving us behind.”   
  


John looked at Angelica, who was walking rather stiffly up the hill they were climbing.

  
“Hey, Angie. You don’t look like you’re having that much fun.”

 

“Ugh. Graveyards freak me out.”   
  
“You wanna go wait in the car?”

 

She scoffed. “Fuck no! This is Susan B. Anthony. I am  _ going  _ to see her grave.” And with that, she walked faster, full of grim determination.

 

“She’s having a great time,” Alexander commented, taking John’s hand. John swung their hands as they walked side by side. He smiled at his boyfriend.

 

“Oh, definitely.”   
  
Maria stumbled on the uneven ground. Eliza took her hand, then looked away to hide her blush. “D-don’t fall, it’s rocky.”   
  
“Yeah,” she said, also looking away. They walked in silence, but neither let go of the other's hand.

 

When they reached it, the group formed a loose semi-circle around the gravestone, with Eliza standing directly in front of it. 

 

“Imagine living that long,” John commented. “She lived in two centuries.”   
  
“We’ve lived in two centuries,” Alex said, nudging him. “It’s not that impressive.”   
  


“Even me,” Peggy added. “Just barely.”   
  
Lafayette had pulled out his phone. “She was eighty-six! That’s old,” he added.

 

“Not that old.” Eliza shrugged, then she kneeled. “She never got to vote. That happened years after her death.”   
  
They walked around the graveyard more, commenting on the graves and pointing out the dates of birth and death (“That one was born in the seventeen hundreds! Woah!”). Afterwards, they got dinner and found a hotel. They got three rooms.    
  
(Lafayette, Hercules, Alexander, and John shared one room. Angelica, Eliza, Peggy, and Mercy shared another and Aaron, Theo, and Maria took the last room.)

 

They gathered in the sister’s room (and Mercy) and discussed where to go next. They looked over google maps and different recommendations before saying ‘fuck it, why not, let’s go to Columbus.’ 

 

They left for Columbus the next morning. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What'd you guys think? (I actually live for comments so don't be afraid, talk to me!)
> 
> I have a tumblr!! i'm treepengui, and you guys should go say hi 
> 
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/treepengui
> 
>  
> 
> See you guys on Saturday!


	3. Columbus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> car talks + columbus, ohio

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyheyhey! unlike with rochester, it has been a W H I L E since i've gone to columbus, so it's based on the internet instead of memory. but i mean hey they're not there for very long so it's fine.
> 
> ALSO! I most likely won't be able to update at all next week, so I MIGHT update on Wednesday.

They had mixed up the seating for the the six hour (“Six hours? What the hell!”) drive to Columbus. The girls had taken Angelia’s car, with Eliza driving, and the boys had taken Martha’s van, with Hercules driving.

“It’s just,” Mercy and Peggy were once again in the back. Mercy was speaking to the whole car, however, not just Peggy. “It’s been such a long time since I was in the real world. And I guess King’s land kind of counts as being the real world, but not really. You know, I did what I could to keep up with what I guessed the world around me was like but it wasn’t the same. It couldn’t have been the same, you know?” She gestured helplessly. 

“We can’t really ever truly understand, but we can emphasize.” Eliza said. 

“That’s true,” Theo nodded. “I mean, we’re coming from different places. No one we meet will ever be truly the same as us. But that’s part of being human, you adapt to what’s going on around you.”

“And you adapted, didn’t you?” Peggy nudged Mercy. “You got with the rules and did what they wanted you to. You survived.”

Mercy snorted. “Kind of. I mean, they didn’t let me leave the building until I had been there a year and was already kind of dead inside. But I’m here, so I survived.”

“Oh.” Peggy didn’t know what to say. “But we’re here! And we’re on a road trip!”

Angelica rolled her eyes at the clear attempt at changing the subject. But hey, it was Peggy’s fault that the conversation stumbled. Still, Angelica took some pity on her. 

“Theo, I’ve been meaning to ask. How long have you worked for the NYCSMP? I mean, we’re in college, but you guys seem to be relatively high rank.”

 

Theo laughed, going with the conversation change. “I’ve worked there for five years, but I interned for the first one. I did work in the GACSMP for a bit, but there was a messy breakup there and I came back to New York.”

“Messy breakup?” Maria asked. “What happened?”

Theo shrugged. “I cheated on him with Aaron.”

Eliza gasped. “You cheated on your boyfriend? Why?”

 

Theo shrugged again. “I don’t know. I never really liked him, we never really clicked in the same way that me and Aaron do.”

“Huh.”

 

“Theo left her boyfriend for you?!” John asked. “No offence, but why?”

“Yeah, she- wait, how do you know? I’ve only ever told Alex, and I was drunk.”

Alex snorted, leaning across the middle seat to poke Aaron’s shoulder. “I was drunk too! I don’t remember this!”

“Ugh,” Aaron put his head in his hands. “How?” he asked John again. John shrugged, waving his phone in front of them, showing his open conversation with Peggy.

John was sitting in the front passenger's seat, as Alex had wanted to sit next to Aaron and there was no way either of them would sit in the middle seat. Lafayette sat in the very back. He groaned dramatically.

“I still don’t understand why me, of all people, must sit in the back!”

“You of all people?” Hercules asked.

“I’m one of the tallest ones! Alexander should sit here, or John!” 

 

Alex twisted in his seat to hit Lafayette. “Gee, thanks, Laf.”

 

“Damn it, Alex, face forward!” Hercules shouted from the front. “If we get into an accident, it’s your fault. I’m calling it now.”

“Wow, thanks to everyone for defending me.” He sat forward again and crossed his arms. “Hey, Aaron?”

 

“What?” Aaron groaned, looking up from his book.

“What’s the weirdest case you’ve worked on in the NYCSMP?”

 

“Why do you want to know?” Aaron responded, suspicious.

“I’m boooooooooooooooooored, that’s why.”

Aaron sighed. “Fine, I guess that’s a good enough reason. And I’d have to say that that mission we did at King’s was the strangest.”

 

“Other than that?” Alex asked.

He had to think for a moment. “There was this one time where this kid’s powers showed up out of the blue. Like, normally they show up either at birth or after puberty. But this kid was like eight. Both of his parent’s registered as power-negative, and all four of his grandparents.”

 

“Is there a record?” John asked. “Like an official record?”

“Yeah, actually. You only have to register once you turn thirty, because it’s still possible for something to show up before then, but there are no cases of something showing up after. If you die before then, you’re marked down as unknown, but what they thought it was. There’s a power registry as well. All of us are on it. As soon as somebody's powers are revealed, someone needs to register them.”

“Am I on it?” Alex touched his shoulder, the one with the scar. “Or not yet?”

Aaron shook his head. “No, you’re not in the system yet.” Mercy wasn’t either, until Martha and George took her in. Her mother hadn’t gotten her registered and wasn’t even registered herself before she died. But that wasn’t something that Aaron needed to share.

“Go on with the story,” Lafayette said with a wave of his hand. He leaned back in his seat, putting a travel pillow behind his neck and closing his eyes. “I am invested.”

 

John snorted. “Just because you want a bedtime story doesn’t mean that he has to continue. But you should,” he directed his words towards Aaron. “Because this is getting interesting.”

“Fine, fine. Where did I leave off before we talked about the registry?” 

 

“Eight year olds powers showing up randomly.” Alex filled in. 

“Yeah, okay. The parents weren’t prepared at all, since they didn’t expect their kid to have powers. They had the basic magic protections, you know, the ones you have on doors and windows to guard against anything outside. They didn’t have any of the stuff people put for the inside of their homes. And they didn’t have any power dampers.”

“What happened?”

“The kid wanted to get a drink, so he turned on the kitchen sink, and he accidently made the plumbing explode. He changed the water into fire,”

 

“Like a demon Jesus.” Hercules commented. 

“I think those words contradict each other, dude.” John said.

“All of the plumbing in the house exploded, releasing water, and all of the water turned into fire. The kid was immune, thankfully, but everyone else wasn’t. The firemen came, not the NYCSMP, because they figured that it was just a regular house fire. But everything they did-”

“Made it worse,” Alexander cut in with his guess. Aaron nodded.

“Yeah. So they finally called the NYCSMP and they got a fire controller to pull back the fire.”

“And everything was fine?” Lafayette guessed.

Aaron laughed, a little darkly, and shook his head. “No. The fire turned back into water as it touched her and she died. The situation took two days to control.”

“Damn.”

“So yeah, that was one of the weirdest cases I’ve worked on, I guess. Now that I’m thinking, there have been weirder, bu-”

“Tell us!” Lafayette said excitedly.

“But those are for another time, because I really want to finish my book now, thanks.”

Aaron turned back to his book and they sat in silence for a minute before John sighed. 

“Damn, we never even found out why Theo left her dude for you.”

Aaron ignored him and kept reading.

 

They went to the Columbus Zoo, and got donuts. As expected, John was fascinated with the underwater animals. He had brought his sketch book, and he drew some of them (much to Alexander’s delight). They bought (overpriced) food and zoo souvenirs (“No, you really don’t need a stuffed bear, Peggy. That thing is giant.” “If you think I don’t need this than you don’t actually know me. That’s it, you don’t know me, I’m have John replace you as eldest Schuyler.” “...Fine.” “Fuck yeah! You’re buying.”)

They found a hotel, and after some deciding, they kept the rooms same as before. And over breakfast the next morning, they decided their next destination: Detroit, Michigan, because ‘It’s not that far away and they’ve got an amazing art museum’. They set out for Detroit shortly after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so! What'd you guys think? I love & appreciate every comment/kudos, so don't be afraid to leave them! 
> 
> I'm on tumblr! I'm treepengui there, and you guys should totally go say hi ;)))))))))   
> but seriosly, i'd love to talk with you guys!
> 
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/treepengui
> 
>  
> 
> See you guys on Wednesday?? Maybe?? And if not, there'll be extra updates when I do get to update!


	4. Detroit and Darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they go to the DIA and marliza have a talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyheyhey! I'M BACK BITCHEEEESSSSSSSS
> 
> okay but seriously, I'm back! sorry for the break! everything should be on schedule now

 

“You know, there are so many things to do in Michigan that aren’t art museums. There’s like, so much nature stuff!”   
  
“You’re not a nature person, Peg, so I don’t see why doing anything like that would make you complain less.”    
  
They had been able to park pretty close to the museum. The only drawback, however, was that they could only park there for two hours.  

 

As they walked around the museum, Peggy would mimic the faces of the people in the paintings. Mercy would giggle quietly and point out another one for her to do. 

 

John would pull out his sketchbook occasionally. Alex would look over his shoulder and comment on it, and together they would smile.

 

Eliza and Maria walked side by side, talking about the art and anything else they found interesting. 

 

After they had walked through the entire museum, staying in some sections longer than others, they got lunch in the museum's café. 

 

“So, Peg, what’d you think?” John asked Peggy once the entire group had sat down. Theo and Aaron had chosen to sit a couple tables away from the main group, engrossed in their own conversation. 

 

“Art museums aren’t my thing, but that was actually pretty cool.” She admitted. Angelica groaned and handed Eliza a five dollar bill.    
  
“You guys bet on that?” Alex asked. “Why?”   
  


“Betting is fun.” Angelica shrugged.

 

Hercules snorted. “Do we need to go to Vegas?”   
  
“Oh, God no.” Angelica laughed. “I have to worst luck.”   
  
“You did just lose a bet, after all.” Lafayette pointed out, pointing at the five still in Eliza’s hand with his spoon.

 

“I have the best luck.” She folded the bill neatly then put it in her pocket. “And I don’t want to get kicked out of a casino because they think I’m cheating.”

 

Chatting and laughing, they finished their meal. Afterwards, they wandered around the city for a bit, walking and shopping. They decided that they’d rather not stay the night in Detroit, and instead find a hotel in the town over or something. (“Cheaper that way, after all.”  “The fuck do you know about cheap?”)

 

When they started looking for dinner, Peggy begged them to go to the Denny’s they had passed. Sighing deeply, the others relented. (Except for John, Hercules, Lafayette, and Alex. They were pumped to go to Denny’s.)

 

At the Denny’s, they found out about a nearby hotel and called ahead to make sure they’d have room. They registered for three rooms and decided to switch up the bed arrangements. 

 

“Where next?” Lafayette asked as he cut into his pancakes. “We should do something different, not another museum or zoo.”   
  
“We could just drive,” Theo suggested. “I mean, we didn’t plan this out before we left so why start now.”   
  
“But what are the chances we’d find something interesting?” Hercules asked.

 

She shrugged. “Every town has something that people go there for.”   
  
“Even if it’s just their mall or something.” Aaron added.    
  
“This way, we would see more of America!” Lafayette said. He had always wanted to go to all of the states, and even if that wasn’t happening on  _ this  _ road trip, it would be a more genuine way to see American towns. 

 

“We could find a roadside attraction,” Alex said through a mouthful of waffles. He swallowed, and added, “American Gods this shit.”

 

Angelica snorted. “Maybe not American Gods, but roadside attractions can be fun. Yeah, let’s do that.”   
  
Eliza tuned to Maria. “Have you ever been to a roadside attraction? We,” she gestured to her sister's. “Went on a trip a while back and saw some really cool ones.”

 

“Not that I can remember,” Maria shook her head.

 

“Make new memories then!” Eliza bumped into her playfully. Maria laughed. 

  
Peggy leaned over so that her lips were almost touching Mercy’s ear, and whispered, “They need to get their shit together and get together.”   
  
Mercy giggled and nodded.

  
“What?” Hercules asked.

  
“Nothing!” she and Peggy said at once.

 

Dinner went by with no disasters, and they headed back to their hotel. Maria and Eliza shared a bed, with Angelica the third in their room. In the room to their left was Theo and Aaron (sharing a bed) and Hercules and Lafayette (also sharing a bed). In the last room was Alexander and John (sharing) and Mercy and Peggy (sharing).

  
  


  
Maria was never a very heavy sleepover, and she always hated sharing rooms. She especially hated sharing beds. Luckily enough, Eliza wasn’t the type to kick or stir during the night, which left her in peace most of the time.    
  
She was woken up by the bed shifting and Eliza getting out of bed.

 

“Eliza?” she whispered. 

 

“Sorry,” Eliza whispered back. For some reason, Eliza was putting shoes on. “I wanted to go to the pool.”   
  
“...What?”   
  
“I checked, it’s open until three and it’s only two.”   
  
“Only?”   
  
“Yeah. As long as we don’t bring small children, we’re fine. There won’t be a lifeguard.” Eliza explained, keeping her voice down.    
  
“But why are you going to the pool?” Maria asked, pulling the bed covers around her. It had cooled down during the night. It was raining outside, she noticed. Heavy enough rain that she could hear it through the walls, but it was light enough that there wasn’t any thunder or lighting.

 

“Stick my feet in the water, clear my head. Do you want to come with?” Eliza offered, now putting on a navy sweatshirt over her light blue nightgown. 

 

“...Sure?” Maria said, the statement coming out as a question.   
  
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to, don’t worry.”

 

“No, I’ll come with.” Maria got out of bed, pulling on a sweatshirt and her shoes. They left the room together and walked to the elevator in step.

 

“I have my phone, just in case.” Eliza said, talking a little louder but still keeping her voice down. It was like two in the morning, after all. And even if they weren’t in the room with sleeping Angelica, they were still walking down a quiet hallway, with rooms full of sleeping people behind the doors. 

 

They got in the elevator and went down two floors. Maria noticed the silence and realized that Eliza was probably waiting for her to say something. 

 

“That’s good,” Maria said, for lack of something better to say. She shoved her hands in her pockets and yawned. Damn, she was tired.    
  
She said so, and Eliza laughed.

 

“You can go back, if you want.”   
  
Maria shook her head. “I can always sleep in the car, and besides, we’re here.”   
  
Eliza put her room key card into the door of the pool and opened it. “I didn’t actually expect it to be open,” she admitted. “I thought it was a typo on the sheet.”   
  


“Maybe it was but then they decided to leave it.”   
  
“Maybe.”   
  
Eliza kicked off her shoes and sat on the edge of the pool, dipping her legs into the cool water. Maria rolled up the legs of her sweatpants and stepped out of her shoes, joining her. Eliza smiled.

  
“Refreshing, isn’t it?”   
  
“It is,” Maria smiled at Eliza and laughed, leaning back against the hard rock of the pools edge. Her hair wasn’t enough of a pillow though, and she sat back up.

 

Eliza kicked her feet gently in the water and leaned her head against Maria’s shoulder. Maria smiled softly at her, putting an arm around her.

 

Eliza leaned in and kissed her.

 

Maria shoved Eliza off, standing quickly. Her legs kicked up water, splashing both her and Eliza. Eliza stood.

 

“I’m sorry!” Eliza said, hands out, embarrassed. “But I had thought that you liked-”   
  
“I do!”   
  
“What?” Eliza’s heartbreak turned to confusion. “You like me?”   
  
“I do! But you don’t!”   
  


“What?” Eliza asked. “I like you! I like you a lot! I think you’re smart and kind and beautiful, and I would really like to be your girlfriend!” She was trying not to shout but she really couldn’t help it.    
  
“No, you don’t!” Maria insisted. “I’m sorry, if I knew I was this tired I wouldn’t have gone, we’ll have to go wake up Aaron, I’m sorry.”   
  
“What are you  _ talking  _ about?”

 

“I’ve very clearly swayed you, Eliza! Again!”   
  
“No!” Eliza said, one hand reaching out for Maria. “You haven’t! I promise!”   
  
“How would you know? You didn’t know before! Agh,” Maria turned away, running a hand through her hair and shaking her head, she sighed, shaking.. “This just keeps happening!” Emotion cracked her voice.  “I thought I had it under control, but when I’m tired I-”

 

“No, really!” Eliza cut Maria off in desperation, her voice thick with tears.  “You haven’t swayed me! This is how I feel about you! I have for a while!”   
  


“Since when,” Maria asked, almost tauntingly. “Since we first met? When I swayed you?”   
  
“No! Yes!” Eliza  _ had  _ liked Maria for a while, but it wasn’t because she had been swayed to! Right?   
  
“Eliza, I’m so, so, sorry. We can get Aaron to fix this in the morning, but until then I can’t share a bed with you. Or a room,” she added. “That would make everything a lot harder then it would have to be. Look, I’m just going to go to one of the other’s rooms and we can fix this in the morning.”   
  
“Nothing needs to be fixed, Maria!” Eliza pleaded. “Stay!”

 

“I can’t, Eliza.” Maria said, shaking her head again before turning away. 

 

Eliza watched her go, helpless to stop her. 

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what'd you guys think?   
> come talk to me on tumblr! I'm treepengui (and if you ask me to write something i'll probably do it because i need to write more)
> 
> alSO,,, unrelated, but if you've listened to the lightning thief musical you should come yell with me about it because i loVEEE IT BUNCHES


	5. Mo(u)rning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> bet you guys didn't think this would happen, huh?

Breakfast was awkward, to say the least, except only Angelica and Eliza really knew why. Eliza normally was very talkative and instead she moodily picked at her food while Angelica angrily cut into hers.

They had decided at dinner that since they didn’t really have a set destination, or a set time to be there, that they could sleep in and come down to breakfast whenever. So far, everyone had come down but Maria. Eliza had told Angelica when she got back to the room, but no one else. Maria had gone to Theo and Aaron’s room and had slept on the floor after being let in. She hadn’t told them why she left and was still asleep (or at least, ‘asleep’) when they went down to breakfast.

“So,” Theo said, looking around the table. “Anyone know why Maria came to our room?”

Eliza attacked her scrambled eggs with her fork. Angelica sighed.

“What?” John asked. “Maria came to your room?”

“Yeah, she woke me up with her knocking and then she just walked in and laid down on the floor.” Lafayette answered.

Eliza sighed. “I kissed her and she thinks she swayed me.” That caused some startled looks around the table. Eliza continued, “And she wouldn’t listen when I said that it wasn’t true!”

Aaron looked at Eliza, eyes closing slightly. He waved a hand, then shook his head. “You haven’t been swayed, but there is… something there. I can’t tell if it’s from being near her or something.”

“But I haven’t been swayed?” Eliza asked hopefully. 

Aaron nodded. “You haven’t.”

 

Angelica’s eyes narrowed and she sighed. “God damn it, Maria.” Eliza shook her head, hitting Angelica’s arm gently. 

“Don’t be like that. Not her fault that she freaks out about that kind of thing. I did nearly die that first time.”

 

(Mercy’s eyes widened just slightly. She chose not to comment on it because none of the others seemed surprised and because she had seen people do that type of thing when swayed before.)

“Yeah, well, still.”

 

They finished breakfast. Only after Eliza left the table to go back to her room did Maria come downstairs. By then, only Mercy, Peggy, and Alexander were left. Mercy was joking freely with the two but stopped when Maria silently pulled out a chair and sat down at their table. She hit her forehead against the table and let it stay.

“I’m assuming Eliza told you?” Her muffled voice asked.

“Yup,” Peggy popped the p. “And, like, damn, you need to talk your issues out. Aaron checked her over, said she wasn’t swayed.”

“Really?” Maria sat straight up, looking to the others in excitement. Then she sighed. “She probably hates me now,” and slumped over again. 

Alex shook his head. “Not what we’ve seen. You should talk to her, it’ll be okay. Both of you really want to date each other, right?”

“Well, I do. I don’t know about-”

“She does, haven’t you been listening? Just talk it out. Get your act together, goddamn.” Mercy said, rolling her eyes at Maria over her cup of coffee. She finished the cup and stood up. “We’re leaving soon and I still need to put my stuff back in my suitcase.” 

Peggy stood with her, grabbing her plate and cup, then turned back to Maria. “Look, I get that you’re freaking out, but seriously, just talk to her. And don’t hurt my sister again,” She added. “Because I hate to see Eliza sad.” The two teens left.

Maria sighed. Alex put a reassuring hand on her forearm. “It’ll all work itself out.” He said, before standing and leaving. Maria looked at the empty table, then downed the rest of her coffee and her muffin and stood, brushing herself off. She was going to talk to Eliza, she decided. But first, she needed to talk to Aaron.

 

Angelica, Eliza, Peggy, Mercy, Alexander, Hercules, and Theo waited by their two cars. Lafayette was doing his eye makeup (“No, Alexander, I can’t do this in the car. Angelica, back me up! Yes, I’ll meet you guys downstairs soon.”), John had been sent out to pick up more road snacks since he would be the fastest choice and if they accidentally left without him (“Mom said she was sorry, Peggy. It was three years ago. Let it go.”) he could meet them wherever they went. Aaron was talking with Maria, trying to convince her that no, Eliza wasn’t swayed. He was also giving her another bracelet so she wouldn’t be in danger of accidentally swaying someone when she was tired or mad. 

They were still waiting and talking around the cars when a large van pulled up and a group of about five people rolled out. 

“Hey, you guys!” The man who was obviously the leader said conversationally to the group around the two cars. “Remember me?” 

He was wearing long sleeves and jeans. He was also wearing a large hat designed to keep off the sun and gloves, despite the warm morning. His hair was dyed blue and he was really, really pale. The others in his group were all wearing similar outfits.

Alexander looked at the man closely, then his eyes widened. “John Jay?”

The man grinned, holding out his arms. “You’re right! It’s me!”

“What happened to you?” Alex asked. He vaguely remembered working with him on a group project before he stopped showing up. Not just to that one class, but to school entirely. 

John Jay’s smile grew colder and wider at the same time, showing off his sharp teeth. “My grand metamorphosis. I’d love to have a chat with all of you! Except Elizabeth and Margarita, of course.”

“What?” Eliza asked. People rarely called her Elizabeth, and they never called Peggy Margarita. 

“You two, you’re too powerful. But the rest of you, I think you’d enjoy my spiel. I was studying business, after all. Maybe you’ll buy my,” He looked at the people surrounding him. “Product.” They laughed. 

“I’m good.” Hercules said. 

“Are you certain?” John Jay asked.

“Yeah, we’re good,” Theo said, taking a step backwards. “No thanks.”

“No, I insist.” John Jay said, then ran forwards. His people followed him. They started to grab at Hercules, Theo, Angelica, Alex, and Mercy. One of them reached Hercules before he could turn himself invisible, and cuffed him with magic blocking cuffs. He tried to swing out at them, but they jabbed him with something and he fell to the ground. They carried him inside of the large van that they had arrived in.

Meanwhile, Mercy was trying to fight. She had been trained, after all. She sent out a large burst of green (?) light at one of her opponents and took them down. She reached out her hands making a shield of sorts around her made out of shining blue (?) light and was making some around the others. John Jay himself was the one to rip through her shield and jab her. As soon as she was hit, her shields fell. 

Mercy’s protection vanishing was what took out Angelica. Angelica had never really gotten into a physical fight, and when she did, she was able to talk the other person down. This time, she wasn’t able to talk her way out. They took her too. 

Eliza screamed, her voice sending out a rippling effect. She called darkness down, and pushed their greatest fears at the attackers. One was taken down by it, screaming and crying. But they seemed to be able to see in the dark, and she was jabbed with one of their needles. As she hit the ground the darkness vanished. 

Peggy grabbed Eliza’s unconscious body and ran back inside the hotel, knowing she had no way to fight. They let her. They hadn’t wanted her or Eliza in the first place.

Theo wasn’t carrying any of the things she normally was for protection. She was on vacation, after all. She could fight, however, and she did so, striking out at anyone near her. She was able to rip off the gloves of one of the attackers, and they started screaming almost instantly. Realizing that that was a good strategy, she tried to do that to the others who were fighting her. They moved too fast, and she was only able to remove one more single glove before she was taken down.

Alexander was the last to fall. Everyone who touched him was burned. His eyes glowed. But there were still more of them then there were of him, and they got him. 

By the time a group of people came out of the hotel, planning to fight the attackers, the van was already gone, and Hercules, Alexander, Angelica, Theo, and Mercy with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)))))))))))))))))))))))))
> 
> now the real action happens! i'm thinking there will be around 10 chapters in this?? idk though. come yell at me on my tumblr! 
> 
> https://treepengui.tumblr.com/ 
> 
> and i'm now realizing that i've been linking it wrong the entire time yay me i'm great at this  
> i'm thinking about possibly updating tomorrow but don't count on it! definitely wednesday tho so feel free to yell at me if i don't  
> also the (?)'s are on purpose, they're not personal notes that I forgot to delete or something


	6. Discussions, discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> they talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyheyhey! I don't have much to say, other than I really like this chapter :)

 

Hercules was the first to come to. After him came Mercy, then Angelica, then Theo, and lastly, Alexander. 

 

Looking around, Hercules could tell they were in some sort of living room. There were three sets of curtains in the room, each drawn tightly over what he assumed were windows. Power blocking cuffs were on his and Mercy’s hands. The others weren’t cuffed at all. They sat together, pressed into a couch that really wasn’t meant for five. 

  
Watching over them was the man from before- John Jay. Hercules felt like he had seen him around campus, but that he didn’t have any classes with him. 

 

John Jay’s long sleeves, gloves, and hat were gone. Instead he wore a simple short sleeved shirt and jeans. He seemed to be reading a book in a nearby chair while he waited for them to wake up. When he saw Hercules looking around, he grinned and placed a bookmark in his book, snapping it shut loudly. He put the book on a side table and crossed his legs, placing his hands on his knees. The gesture was fluid but not natural looking. Hercules wondered if he had rehearsed it.

 

Mercy woke up silently, blinking and looking around the room. She tested her cuffs before leaning back and trying to get comfortable. 

 

Angelica, on the other hand, woke up with a very audible, “What the fuck,”. She made her own assessments of the room.

 

Theo came too quietly, She checked her hands, saw they were free, and would have checked her pockets if she had the room to move. She rolled her shoulders and tilted her head to the side so one of them could hit her ear. Then she sat up straight, waiting. 

 

Alexander woke up finally with a gasp. He tried to stand, but John Jay walked over and pushed him back down.

 

“No, no, you can’t leave yet. I still need to tell you all what this,” he gestured both to the room and to himself, “is.”

 

A few more of his people came into the room. Each was wearing normal clothing, showing off their pale skin. 

 

“Are all of you awake?” He asked the group on the couch. Each muttered a yes when they realized he was actually expecting an answer. “Great!” He clapped his hands together and then sat back down in his chair.

 

“Now, I’m pretty sure you don’t remember me all too well. But I was learning business, as well as science. My girlfriend, Sarah Livingston, was majoring in science. We had decided to do a little… side project, I suppose you’d call it. We wanted to be famous.” He shook his head. “Now, as all of you know, most everyone has a power. So many people have powers, actually, that it’s  more common to have them then to not. Still, people without powers are considered to be unlucky.”   
  
“That’s not true!” Angelica said, confused. “It’s more of a fifty-fifty powers or not. And it’s not like they’re unlucky.”   
  
“Ah, you’d think that, wouldn’t you? But why fifty-fifty? Isn’t it true that when two people with powers have a child, their child is more likely to be powered then not, and when two people without have a child, their child is more likely to not be powered. Which makes you wonder why, yeah? I mean, people have had magic in them for a long, long time. So why haven’t the traits evened out? Why doesn’t everyone have powers?” He looked at Angelica directly, asking her the question.

 

“I… I don’t know.”   
  
“Exactly. Now, where was I?” He thought for a moment before snapping. “Yeah! Okay, so, you would consider Sarah and I to be unlucky, since we didn’t have powers. I guess you wouldn’t, Angelica. But most everyone would so don’t act high and mighty. But anyway, we wondered why we didn’t. I mean, both of us had relatives with powers. So what was different with them then with us?”   
  
John Jay gestured as he spoke, getting more and more animated.

 

“Okay, so imagine that someone just blew a shit ton of bubbles.”  One of his people actually handed him a small container of bubbles. He grinned. “Okay, even better. So, bubbles.” He uncapped the bottle and then blew some bubbles. They floated around the room, some popping almost instantly and others taking longer. 

 

“Bubbles. Imagine that each bubble is a person. When the bubble pops, they go through whatever we go through when we get our powers. But every bubble has to pop.” He waited, looking at them expectantly. It reminded Theo of a teacher, pausing after they say something and then looking at the class, waiting for someone to add to the discussion, to make a point.    
  
“But not everyone has powers,” Hercules said. 

 

“Exactly! But we did some digging, and we found some startling news articles which we couldn’t believe that we overlooked. I mean, all of you have got to have seen them, especially you, Theodosia. The stories where somebody gets hit by a bus, or stabbed, or falls off a cliff, or gets in a car accident. And when everyone thinks they’re going to die, they don’t. What the news  _ doesn’t  _ report on is that the power who were previously unpowered, or so they thought, suddenly had powers.”   
  
“But do the events relate?” Theo asked. “How do you know?” She sounded a little panicked, like her world was falling apart. It kind of was, in a way. They didn’t teach this at the NYCSMP. 

 

“Well, we’re pretty sure that they do relate. You see, everyone has magic in them, at least a little. And sometimes, when the body is under attack, their magic will release to protect them.” John Jay looked at Angelica. “I mean, take your sister, Margarita-”   
  
“Peggy,” Angelica cut in. It sounded weird for someone to be calling her Margarita.

  
“Alright, alright. Peggy. Take Peggy. Before Theodosia looked at her and said, ‘Yup, you’ve got powers, these are what they are,’ she had some traces of it, yeah? Eerily  good impressions of celebrities, maybe.”   
  
“How do you know?” Angelica asked, horrified. “How do you know that?”   
  
He shrugged. “I followed some of your-” he gestured to the group on the sofa. “social media whatever’s from the college days. And some of you guys have public accounts. Seriously, it’s almost scary how much info you can get from people on the internet. Anyway, I’m right, aren’t I?”   
  
Angelica nodded.

 

“It starts with a trickle of something,”   
  


_ Theo massaged her forehead. Aaron, love of her life, had gotten fed up with Alexander’s constant everything. “Please, just is there anything?” he had asked. He had begged her to try to sense Alexander, see if there was magic.  _

 

_ And it hurt. Oh, God, it hurt. She stopped immediately. There was nothing there, anyway, and if there was, it would be a lot more prominent. She had just had a long day, after all, lots of screaming between classes and fighting at the office. It would make sense for her to have a headache.  _

 

_ Theo had pushed the thoughts that doubted her statement to the back of her mind and let herself forget them. _

 

“And then that trickle gets a little bigger, little more prominent.”

 

_ Peggy, in her excitement, had wanted to try to mimic Alexander. Why wouldn’t she? After all, it would be a useful skill to easily mimic her friends. She had already mastered her sisters. _

 

_ And it hurt. Oh, God, it hurt. She stopped immediately. It didn’t matter, anyway, she didn’t need to start with Alex. It’d be easier to mimic a girl, someone closer to her. She had had a long, magically draining day, after all, lots of mimicking random things. It would make sense for her to have a headache, for her face to hurt suddenly. You must have a limit, after all, before there are side effects.   _

 

_ Peggy pushed the thoughts, the ones that questioned if this pain was natural, to the back of her mind and let herself forget them. _

 

“And maybe then there’s something even bigger, but not quite unlocking the magic, and it’s a little more noticeable.”

 

_ Mercy hated her life and her job. She didn’t want to attack these people, they seemed nice. But when all the others assigned to grab Alexander failed, they pushed the task to her. Lots of ‘last chance, you better not fail,’ shouted at her. So she tried. _

 

_ And it hurt. Oh, God, it hurt. She couldn’t stop until she finished the job. She had to take him, and she was the only one who could. She felt herself buring and didn’t allow herself to stop until they had pulled Alexander into the van. Once they did, she collapsed. She knew what was going to happen to happen to him and was thankful they were letting her rest.  _

 

_ Mercy pushed the thoughts, the pain and the screaming from both of them, to the back of her mind and made herself forget.  _

 

“And then- BAM! The main event! The truck, the cliff, the knife!”   
  
_ King was hovering over him with that awful knife, prepared to rip Alexander’s soul from his body, become more powerful. Alexander struggled, of course he did, but he couldn’t get away. And King carved in the pattern. _

 

_ And it hurt. Oh, God, it hurt. But he couldn’t get away. He felt something in him rising and it burned like bile. He felt like he was going to throw up.  _

 

_ And then he exploded, it racing out of him. It vaporized King and the knife and it knocked down the people near him. He smelled flesh burning and wondered if it was his and the waves of his power went out, through the walls of the building, attacking those who had attacked him and wrecking things while doing so. It was too much power, he knew that. Innocent people were going to be killed because of the power, they were going to be vaporized or explode. His wail of despair was unheard by anyone but him, and it released more power. _

 

_ He slumped in his chair and hoped he would forget. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what'd you guys think?  
> i have a tumblr and i'd link it but i'm having some tech issues so,,, it's treepengui and i linked it in the last chapter.
> 
> (tech issues include me having to do this on a different computer. the flashbacks towards the end are supposed to be italics)
> 
> EDIT: I fixed the italics for anyone coming back to read this :)  
>  
> 
> see you guys next time! (and in the comments ;))


	7. Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More talking

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyheyhey! the tech situation is still not fixed and prob won't be for a bit but I'm doing the best I can. don't worry, chapters are still being written :)
> 
> also! you should check my tumblr because i entered a writing contest and WON THE SHORT STORY PART!! i really like that piece of writing and i think you guys would like it to so i'd recommend checking it out :)

Alexander was shaking, he knew that. He hoped none of them could see that he just had his major revelation. 

He had known, deep in the back of his mind, that he had powers. And now he knew more about what they were.

They were protecting him. He survived the hurricane, he survived the attacks on him by King. He was like Maria- unable to control his powers and when they would strike. He couldn’t help it when he hurt Peggy or Theo. At least he didn’t hurt John when he went through one of his portals.

Alexander tried to reach out with his powers but had zero clue of what to do. Maybe they only came out when someone was hurting him. 

John Jay had stopped talking and was looking at him funny. “Alex? Are you alright?”

Alexander shook himself slightly. He had to hang on, keep concentrated. Whether he liked being stuffed on a couch with his friends or not, the stuff John Jay was talking about was really interesting. He wanted to know more. 

“Yeah, I’m good. What were you saying?”

Angelica, immediately to his right, gave Alexander a Look. He shook his head. She rolled her eyes. 

“If you say so,” John Jay said, then snapped his fingers again. “Anyway! Me and Sarah started thinking- is there anything we can do to pop the bubbles before they would pop naturally? Some sort of way to trigger someone's magic without them being hit by a bus.”

 

“You can’t do that,” Theo insisted. “People don’t work like that. That’s not possible.”

John Jay leaned forward in his chair. “Oh, but it is. Look at me, or any of my people. I did this, we did this, not mother nature.”

“What did do you?” Angelica asked. 

One of John Jay’s people handed him a book. “Oh, thank you, Madeline. Here, look.” He flipped to a page and showed them.

The page had a recipe on it. It was titled ‘Strengthening Power’. There was a drawing of a short, skinny man. In the next drawing he was drinking a purple potion, and then in the next drawing there was the man, but tall and muscular. 

“Sarah and I took our inspiration from this potion. We changed it a lot, actually, so you wouldn’t be able to use this potion to do what we did. Mainly, we took out the need to be ‘powered’,” John Jay actually did the air quotes. “Beforehand. We also took out the human sacrifice!”

“Mercy,” Alexander asked slowly. “Is this close to the potion that King used?”

Mercy had already paled. She tended to do that when something scared her. “Yes,” she said. “Almost identical.”

“What?” Angelica asked. “You used something this old? That’s super dangerous!” She liked history and done a lot of research on old spells. They tended to be problematic to use in the present day because of how much humans had changed. Also because most of them involved some kind of sacrifice, and that’s generally frowned on in modern society. 

“Hey!” John Jay held up his hands defensively. “I told you, we changed most of it! It was just our inspiration.” 

“How did it change you?” Hercules asked.

“Oh!” A woman behind John Jay said suddenly. He turned around.

“You wanna say it?” He asked. She nodded eagerly. He shrugged and waved at her. “Go ahead.”

“Okay!” She said. “Basically, it kind of turned us into vampires. Without the need for human blood, of course! We just need a lot more iron in our diet, but that’s fine. Lots of spinach and liver and beef and such. We can’t let the sunlight touch our skin, but artificial light and moonlight are fine. But those are just our weaknesses!”

 

Theo had noticed that when she was fighting them earlier.

“We can move pretty fast, and jump pretty high. Our endurance is better, too, which lets us go for longer without needing breaks. We’re stronger than the average human. We also have heightened senses. Our teeth are slightly bigger and sharper, which is a pain to get used to, but I hardly noticed it now!”

“Wow,” Hercules said. “You really are vampires.”

John Jay shrugged. “Basically.”

Theo wasn’t sure what was going on. What John Jay and the others had done- that was impossible, or so she had thought. And where was her back up?

Sure, maybe they weren’t the most prepared on vacation, but she was a relatively high-ranking person in the NYCSMP. She always wore a pair of earrings with a tracking chip in them. She had hit it with her shoulder when she first woke up, triggering the call for help. That would activate the earrings and send her location. 

“Why are we here?” She asked. She didn’t want anymore life changing information. She wanted to go home.

“Well,” John Jay paused. “That’s an unrelated question that we don’t really know the answer to. I guess I could try! Humans evolved-”

“No!” Theo cut him off. “Why are we, as in Alex, Angelica, Herc, Mercy, and I, here?”

“Oh.” John Jay leaned back in his chair. “You see, when it was just me and Sarah, we wanted to share our findings with the world. But the world didn’t listen, didn’t believe. We talked to some med students, let them run some of their own tests. Some of them joined us, some of them burned their results. It’s a controversial thing, you’ve got to understand. People want to believe that they are special when they have powers, that they’re better than the people less powerful than them, or the ones without them completely.”

Alex knew that all too well. He had to work hard to get to where he was (although that wasn’t just from ‘not having powers’).

“What do you want us to do?” Angelica asked.

He shrugged. “I’m not sure yet. But you were near us, and we had to take our chance. If you show what we’ve done to the NYCSMP, maybe they’ll listen!”

“Maybe they'll help us!” The woman who told them about their vampire powers added. 

“Help you what?” Hercules asked.

She looked to John Jay. He sighed, and spoke. “Some of us are getting… sick. We don’t know what it is, but it’s consuming them. They sickest ones… they’re not them.” His voices cracked, just a little, with desperation. He hit the arm of his chair with one fist, letting out a little of his frustration.

“How many?” Mercy spoke up for the first time.

“Twelve.” He said quietly. “And only three are still here. The other nine ran off, we haven’t seen them in days.”

Mercy hesitated. “Can I see them? The ones that are still here?” 

“What?” Theo whispered. “What are you doing?”

 

Mercy shrugged uncomfortably. “I had lots of jobs, back in Kings land. One of them was monitoring the hospital. Guarding doors, keeping back patents. Stuff like that.” She shrugged again.

“Are you a healer?” John Jay asked, looking hopeful.

“No. But I’ve seen a lot of conditions.” 

He stood. “Then let’s all go to their rooms.”

Alex was the first to struggle to his feet. They really had been packed tightly on the couch. Once he was gone, however, it was easier for the rest of them to get up. Once all of them were standing, John Jay walked to Hercules.

“Give me your wrists.” 

Slightly confused, he stretched them out. John Jay tapped a button on the cuffs and they grew slightly, enough for him to pull them off Hercules. He did the same for Mercy.

“You’re trusting us now?” Angelica asked wryly, raising an eyebrow. John Jay laughed- a little hollowly, she noticed- and spoke.

“I suppose I have too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;)))) what'd you guys think?


	8. NYCSMP & ???

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We briefly check back in with the people who weren't kidnapped before returning to the action.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyheyhey! sorry for the late chapter guys! i don't have that much to say so enjoy!

“We’re working on finding them,” Martha spoke as they walked down one of the hallways at the NYCSMP.

 

When John returned from his grocery run and found Peggy sobbing, Eliza knocked out, Maria curled up in a ball, and Lafayette and Aaron yelling at both each other and the hotel staff, he knew he had missed something important. That something turned out to be a major fight in which Theo, Alex, Mercy, Angelica, and Hercules had been pushed into a van and driven off with. Again, in Alex’s case.

 

He had taken them back to the NYCSMP. They would return later for the cars, but until then, the hotel staff promised to watch them. It was the least they could do, considering  _ five people  _ had been kidnapped on their land and basically just outside their doors.

 

Martha opened a door and ushered them in. She directed them to couches and had them sit. Eliza and Peggy sat next to each other on a couch. John and Lafayette said next to each other as well, across from Maria and Aaron. While Aaron had proved that no, it wasn’t because of powers, Eliza and Maria actually liked each other, it was definitely not the time to make a move. 

  
Using a little laser pointer, she directed their attention to a screen on the wall across from them. On the screen was a large map. On the map was a gold dot. Martha sat down at the desk to the right of the map and used the mouse to hover over the dot. An icon popped up that read [THEODOSIA BARTOW- DISTRESSED]. 

 

“Is that where Theo is?” Lafayette asked.    
  
Martha nodded. “It is. And ‘distressed’ means that she hit her ‘help’ earrings. Which is good, because it makes us assume that she was, at the moment she hit her earring, conscious. She isn’t that far from the hotel that you were in. In fact, according to the earrings, she’s still in Michigan. We’re going to go off that for our first response.”   
  
“What if she’s not where the earrings say she is?” Peggy asked.

 

“What if she is, but the others aren’t?” Eliza added.

 

“How do we know she’s even alive?” John added bitterly. 

 

When Lafayette was about to ask a question, Martha raised a hand to stop the talking.

 

“We’ll worry about that when we get to it.”   
  


“What’s our plan?” Aaron asked. Sure, he was scared for Theo, but they’d been in worse conditions. Then again, they generally were together. But he wasn’t going to focus on that.

 

“We’re still thinking about that. We need to be careful, because according to your reports, those people-”   
  


“Fucking vampires,” Peggy whispered. Martha smiled thinly.

 

“Those ‘vampires’ are strong, and we’re dealing with people who aren’t the best in a fight, magic-wise. Angelica and Theo’s powers won’t help them in a fight, and while Hercules could get them out, any smart person would put cuffs on him. Mercy-” Martha faltered, just a little. She lost and regained her composure in less than a second. If Aaron hadn’t known her for a long time, he wouldn’t have noticed. He doubted the others did. “-would probably be fine, but we don’t know how she’d react. And we have nothing on Alexander. So it’ll be a little tricky, but nothing we can’t handle.”   
  
“Are you going to go on the recovery team?” Lafayette asked. 

 

The immortal laughed (with very little humor). “No, my talents aren’t best suited for it. If I need to, sure, but I’m not planning on it. I’ll be in a car nearby directing you all. You can choose to go, but we can’t let Peggy go.”   
  
“Goddamn it.” Peggy leaned back, into the couch. Eliza put a hand on her shoulder.

 

Martha turned to look directly at Peggy. “You haven’t completely recovered from whatever hit you last time. You aren’t going, and we’ll have someone watch you. Maybe me, I don’t know,” she shrugged. “Our plans have been falling apart in the last few years.”

 

“But we’ll get them?” Lafayette asked.

 

She nodded. “We’ll find a way. We’ll save them.”

  
  
  


“Here they are,” John Jay gestured to a door. “All three that remain. Be careful,” he warned. “They might lash out at newcomers. Hell, they might lash out at me.”   
  
He opened the door.

 

The first thing Angelica noticed about them was how pale they were. She could only see two, but that was enough. Not John Jay pale, and not pale like the other ‘vampires’, but almost white. It was as if the color was sucked out of them. The bed closest to them had a woman on it. She had long, straight, black hair. It looked like it would hang below her waist if she was standing. There was a streak in her hair, the same blue that John Jay had. Unlike the streaks of green in Mercy’s hair (which was redone with Peggy over the Washington’s kitchen sink), there was just one, and it was very neat. She was reading something.

 

She smiled when she saw them, and putting down her book she held out her arms to them. “Jay,” she said. When she spoke Angelica noticed how pointy her teeth were. The woman’s lips had little scratches in them, from, Angelica assumed, her teeth. They were much sharper and longer than the other vampires.

 

“Sarah!” John Jay rushed to her and took her hands in his. She smiled at him, then winced at her teeth.    
  


“Is this..?” Theo asked, trailing off.

 

John Jay nodded, confirming her thoughts. “This is Sarah, my girlfriend. Sarah, how’s Sanders? How’s Lewis?”

 

Sarah looked at the bed to her left. Curtains surrounded it.    
  
“Sanders?” She asked.

 

“Fuck off,” came the reply. It was a woman, that was for sure.

 

Sarah shook her head. “She’s… Alright. That’s the best we can hope for, yeah?”   
  
“How’s Lewis?”   
  
Sarah actually winced. “He’s not himself today. Hasn’t been in four days,” She looked at the others when she spoke. Angelica assumed she was referring to the man sleeping in the last bed.

 

Mercy and Theo both took a step closer to the woman, looking her over. Mercy stepped back and looked at Theo.

 

“You see what I see?” Theo asked.

 

“Depends on what you see.” Mercy replied. “To me, it looks kind of like the people who’d get to much magic in their systems. Burn them out.”   
  


Theo nodded. “Yeah. Just looking at you, Sarah,” she gestured to the woman. “It’s hard to describe. But it’s… bright.”   
  


Theo saw different things when looking at people with powers. It wasn’t like she saw words painted across them (unless that had something to do with their powers). Instead she saw the magic. It was hard to describe, but looking at Sarah, she could see both the woman sitting in bed and the magic surrounding her core. It shined through her teeth and her skin, bright enough that Theo had to look away at first. But as she looked it dimmed, fluctuating. Sarah dimmed to the point where she could distinguish one light from another.    
  
The light looked like it was forming clumps in certain places and then sinking into her skin. Theo willed herself to see Sarah as the person, not the magic, and made the lights vanish. They were still there, of course, but she wasn’t seeing them. Like taking off night-vision goggles. Everything you saw was still there, you just didn’t see it.

 

“What do you think?” John Jay asked nervously.

 

“I’m no doctor. I can see the magic, though, and it’s not constant. At some points it’s too bright to look at, at others it’s practically gone. I don’t think whatever you did worked well with her, but I think her body’s trying to sort itself out.”

  
Sarah and John Jay smiled in relief. “Oh, thank God.” She said. “And you’re right, the potion didn’t work well with me. But I’ve been sick for a while.”

 

“She’s never lost herself like the other ones have.” John Jay added, a bit proudly. “Neither has Sanders.”   
  


“Can I look at Sanders?” Theo asked.

 

“Of course,” John Jay said, walking over to the curtained bed.

 

“Fuck off,” came the voice again, from inside the curtains. John Jay pulled back the curtains.

  
The woman sitting on the bed hissed. She, too, was very pale. She had curly brown hair that was cut unevenly- in one place it was shoulder length, another it was just barely brushing her chin, and in another it was to her elbows. She was sitting on top of the covers painting her nails. Alexander was impressed at how neat she was. If he had been doing it, there would be paint all over the covers.

  
John Jay sighed. “Hi, Sanders. These are the guests.”   
  
She looked up at the group, scanning over them. Her eyes were yellow, Alex noticed, with large dark marks under them like she hadn’t been sleeping. They stood out against her skin. She stared at Hercules a little longer than the rest of them before returning her attention to painting her nails.

 

Theo let herself see the magic again, and noticed how dim it was. It seemed like her body was doing the same thing Sarah’s was doing, she noticed, and told the others.

 

“Oh, good!” John Jay said. “That’s great.”   
  
“Does everyone get sick when they first go through… whatever you guys do to get the powers?” Hercules asked.

 

John Jay nodded. “Not like this, though. It’s just for a day. There’s generally a fever and whoever’s going through the metamorphosis feels really shitty, but then it’s over. Everyone here has been sick for at least a month. The ones who left, they had been sicker. They stopped being themselves and then they ran away.”   
  
“Why couldn’t you stop them?” Angelica inquired. “The rest of you are strong, and they were practically bedridden, right?”   
  


Sanders laughed. “You weren’t there, darling. It was horrific. They’re strong too, if not stronger. And unlike the rest of us, they didn’t really care if they got hurt. The barely bleed.”

 

“Oh.”   
  
“Now, can you guys kindly leave me alone?”   
  


John Jay sighed. “Fine. We’d better show them Lewis, anyway.”

 

Sanders snorted. “Good luck with that.”

 

He closed the curtain around Sanders and gestured that the group continued. 

  
The last bed, the one with the sleeping man, was much farther away. When they got closer, Alexander realized that he wasn’t just lying there. His arms and legs were strapped to the bedrails. 

 

John Jay noticed Alexander looking at that and quickly spoke, keeping his voice down. “Lewis wasn’t himself when he fell asleep. He’s been slipping, lately. He hasn’t been himself for a while.”   
  
“Four days!” Sarah called.

 

John Jay nodded. “He’s quickly becoming like the others, the ones that ran. We don’t know how much longer we have until he runs too. We don’t think we have that much. He’s one of the reasons why we were so desperate to get you guys. He is- was- one of our best. We need a cure.”   
  
Theo looked at Lewis and let herself see the magic.    
  
Lewis was bright. It was like looking at the sun, painful and damaging. The magic looked like it was trying to do what it was doing on Sanders and Sarah, but instead of the balls of magic sinking into his skin, they bounced around on him and formed even bigger balls.

 

“Jesus,” Theo whispered, blinking her eyes to try to clear them. 

 

“How bad?” Angelica put a hand on Theo’s shoulder when she staggered back.

 

“Very. It’s- the magic- it’s.” Theo didn’t know how to express what she was seeing. “On Sarah and on Sanders, the magic slowly forms little balls and sinks in. I’m assuming that means the body is accepting the magic. But on Lewis, it’s not sinking in. It’s just bouncing around and combining with other balls of magic and getting bigger. It’s so  _ bright. _ ” Theo rubbed her eyes and made herself stop seeing the magic.

 

“Uh, guys?” Alex sounded nervous. The others had been wrapped up in Theo’s explanation, and none of them had been looking at Lewis.    
  
The others looked over to Alex, and then at what he was pointing to. Alex pointed to Lewis on the bed.   
  
Like the others, Lewis was very, very pale. His blond hair was a mess, like it hadn’t been brushed in days. It probably hadn’t.    
  
Lewis’s eyes were also open, showing how yellow they were. But most importantly, they showed that Lewis was looking around, staring at the people around him.

 

Most importantly, they showed that Lewis was waking up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what'd you guys think? 
> 
> HEY I HAVE A TUMBLR AND YOU SHOULD LIKE GO SAY HI  
> I'm @treepengui and if you give me a writing request or something i'll most likely do it because yeah
> 
> see you guys next chapter (and in the comments)!
> 
> EDIT: I'm doing some formatting things in another chapter but !! Sanders is Elizabeth Sanders, Herc's real life wife, Sarah is Sarah Jay, or John Jay's wife, and Lewis is someone I saw on wiki lmao he was a spy like herc but there was very little about him. he did live in the same time period though which, if i'm going to steal characters from history, is what i'm going for


	9. Goners

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> lewis  
> many talks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyheyhey! this story is almost over :') it'll either be 10 or 11 chapters. not yet though! we're still going!
> 
> i've got no major announcements so enjoy the chapter!

Lewis blinked up at them, before seeing Alexander, Angelica, Theo, Hercules, and Mercy standing by John Jay. They were very clearly outsiders compared to all the other ‘vampires’ they had seen. Lewis glared at John Jay.

 

“Wow, stooping this low? Not very becoming in a leader, Jay.”

 

“Ugh. Please, Lewis,” John Jay sounded exasperated and tired. “They might be able to help us. They could help you.”   
  


Lewis laughed. “Them? Help us?  _ Please. _ I think you mean we can help them, Jay. You wouldn’t have let them in if they were powered.” He smiled at the group, almost baring his sharp teeth. “Don’t worry, we’ve got you guys covered. All we need is a little… payment.”   
  
“Payment?” Alexander asked.

 

John Jay sighed. “Don’t worry, we won’t make you guys do anything. Lewis is just… excited, I suppose, because these guys,” he gestured to the room around them. “Need a little more iron.”   
  
“You mean blood?” Theo guessed. The look on John Jay and Lewis’ faces (a wicked grin and another tired sigh) confirmed it.

 

“It sustains us! I’d gladly let the rest of you in if you give up one. I’m sure the other two wouldn’t mind. It could even be one of the small ones, I-”   
  
John Jay started to speak over Lewis. “Aaaand that’s enough. Goodbye, Lewis. I’ll send someone to attend to you.” He drew the curtain around Lewis’ bed and shook his head.

 

“I’m still here!” Lewis called out before starting to laugh. His laugh grated on Hercules’s ears and he thought about pulling the curtain back just to punch Lewis’ face. 

 

Sanders drew back her curtain. “If I’m ever like that, ignore it. It’ll pass.” 

  
She had put away her nail polish. Hercules wondered what she was doing, then realized that was probably a stupid question. Him and his friends was probably the most entertaining thing at the moment.

 

“Sanders only loses herself for part of a day!” Sarah piped up. She had put down her book, but it was probably hard to read with all the talking anyway. She didn’t seem like the kind of person Hercules would peg for an eavesdropper.

 

“Why’s that?” Angelica asked. “What makes Sanders and Sarah so different than Lewis?”

 

“It must be how their bodies respond to the magic.” Theo said. John Jay nodded.

 

“Some people are less able to go through the change. They aren’t strong enough, we think.”   
  
“Like Lewis.” Alexander said grimly, with a look back to where Lewis was lying.

 

“It’s rude to talk behind my back!” Lewis shouted from behind his curtain. “They’ll come save me! They’ll come get me!”   
  
“What?” Angelica asked. John Jay looked at Lewis’ bed, then gestured that the group follow him.

  
“Sanders, Sarah, if you can, come with us.” Both Sarah and Sanders stood and followed, though Sanders grimaced slightly when she stood. 

 

“Leaving without me!?” Lewis shrieked. Then came the sound of the bed shaking, like Lewis was trying to wiggle his way out as he raged against his bindings.   
  
As the group left the room, John Jay signaled two others that they passed to go back into it.    
  
“Lewis?” One asked simply. At John Jay’s nod they sighed and went in.

 

John Jay brought them to another nearby room. It wasn’t the room with the couches that they had woken up in. There were some straight backed chairs and some chairs that looked a little more comfortable. Multiple desks were clustered at one end of the room and there was a large table, surrounded by chairs, at the other end. Bookcases lined the walls, and in the places there weren’t bookcases, there were large whiteboards. One whiteboard had scribblings of words in another language while the rest were clean.

 

Alexander looked at the board. “That’s French? Why?”

  
John Jay shrugged. “A couple people here wanted to learn it and some others knew it. They’re teaching them. That’s not why we’re here, though. Please, sit.”   
  
Sarah and Sanders had already sunk into the more comfortable chairs. The rest followed.

 

“So,” Alexander said. “What did Lewis mean, ‘they’ll come save me’?”   
  
“The ones that left- most people around here call them ‘goners’-” Sarah started.

 

“Because they are. There’s no saving them.” Sanders played with one of the longer strands of her hair as she rolled her eyes.

 

“But anyway, the goners, they’ve come back twice. They get the ones who’ve lost it completely. They ignore the ones like Sanders and me because we’re still us. We’ve predicted that the goners will get Lewis next time they come by.”

 

“And they fight anyone who looks at them,” Sanders added. “We haven’t had to bury anyone yet but at the rate we’re going, I’m sure we will!”    
  
“Aren’t vampires like… immortal?” Mercy asked. 

  
John Jay shrugged. “Well, the mythical ones are. But we aren’t quite. We can still eat garlic and see ourselves in mirrors,” he joked. “But we might be immortal. We don’t know yet.”

 

“Don’t you guys fight back?” Alexander asked.

 

Sanders laughed. “It’s not worth it! We know what they’re coming for and how strong they are so we let them. We’re not going to risk our lives when we know we’ll lose! So we just watch.”   
  
“Is that one of the reasons you guys want the help of the NYCSMP?” Theo asked. “Backup?”   
  
John Jay nodded. “We don’t have enough people to fight them. Backup would be nice. Besides, they’re- the goners, I mean, not the NYCSMP- dangerous. They’re going to hurt innocents. We don’t want that, and if they were themselves, they wouldn’t either. I know that we created this problem but we’re going to need help. Will you?”

 

John Jay sounded almost hopeful. Theo looked between her friends and then nodded.

 

“Yeah, for sure. Now, we need to call our people before they get here first.”   
  
“Oh, for sure!” John Jay bounced up. “We have your phones, they’re just-”   
  
The doorbell rang.

 

“Mormons or Girl Scouts?” Sanders asked, grinning.

 

Sarah laughed. “Girl Scouts, hopefully.”   
  
“Who is it, you guys?” John Jay called.

  
The response was screaming.

  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what'd you think? talk to me in the comments OR on my tumblr! i'm @treepengui you should stop by ;)
> 
>  
> 
> also it's summer so i've been doing nothing but yesterday i watched a very potter musical and today i watched a very potter sequel. if you like & have read all the books (spoilers and stuff) then you should watch it its rly funny and kind of hard to believe that i hadn't seen it yet
> 
> tomorrow i'll watch the last one can't wait
> 
> see you guys next time! (or in the comments/on tumblr ;))) )

**Author's Note:**

> what'd you guys think?
> 
> i have a tumblr! i'm treepengui, and you guys should go say hi!
> 
> https://www.tumblr.com/blog/treepengui


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